The Department of Justice has said that deploying Gardaí to France to help tourism has been “useful” following suggestions that members of the force could be sent to Disneyland.
As revealed exclusively by the Irish Mirror, French ambassador Vincent Guérend said a pilot scheme that saw gardai work in northern France last summer was so successful that it has been extended to other parts of the country this year.
This includes EuroDisney in Paris.
READ MORE: Gardai to patrol Disneyland in uniform this summer to help Irish tourists enjoy their holiday
At the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting, Catherine Murphy of the Social Democrats asked Department of Justice Secretary General Oonagh McPhillips about the arrangement.
She said that she believed that Garda deployments abroad were a “Government decision” and it is a “bilateral arrangement between police forces”.
She said: “Over the last few years, I think, perhaps preceding the pandemic as well, we found it useful to have a very small number of Gardaí deployed to holiday areas in France to assist tourists with crime incidents and so forth, and vice versa.
“I met the French ambassador recently and the French authorities find it very useful. There’s a reciprocal arrangement as well.”
Ms McPhillips also confirmed that gardaí are also sent to other jurisdictions to assist with language issues and “in situations where there can be difficulty”.
“That's a matter of the Commissioner’s [Drew Harris] judgement as to whether this is of value and he'd obviously have regard to those pressures [on Garda resources].”
Questions about sending Gardaí to Disney were also raised in the Dáil, where the Social Democrats’ Jennifer Whitmore “perplexed” the Tánaiste.
She questioned if there were sufficient resources to send Gardaí abroad given growing concerns about far-right protests at asylum seeker accommodation.
Mr Martin replied: “From time to time we do have very creative diplomacy in terms of exchanges, learning of expertise and so on.
“The next thing could be a parliamentary trip to Disneyland. It could be cross-party.
“We might get very valuable insights into how things operate. It has been a long time since I have been in Disneyland myself. Opportunity beckons.”
Mr Martin said that the Government was working to recruit more Gardaí and that “very significant resource allocation has been made”/
He continued: “I would have to get the context of the visit to Disneyland to understand the full policy wraparound as to why gardaí are there.
Justice Minister Simon Harris, meanwhile, said that deployment was a matter for the Garda Commissioner.
The Garda Press office, meanwhile, said that it “does not comment on remarks by third parties” when asked about the French Ambassador’s comments to the Irish Mirror.
They added: “Following a request from the French authorities, An Garda Síochána has been discussing with French policing colleagues a repeat of last year’s temporary assignment of a very small number of Gardaí to work with them in assisting Irish nationals visiting certain tourist areas of France during the summer.
“Such assignments are subject to approval by the Irish Government. This initiative is not yet confirmed nor are the details of where the Gardaí may be deployed.”
The spokesperson added that last year, four Gardaí were sent to France across July and August.
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